ne fella Adamu Adam along me. Tell 'm that fella
Ornfiri make 'm _kai-kai_ take along whale-boat." She rose to her feet,
looking at Sheldon. "And you, please, have the boys carry down the whale-
boat--my boat, you know. I'll be off in an hour."

Both Sheldon and Tudor looked at their watches.

"It's an all-night row," Sheldon said. "You might wait till morning--"

"And miss my shopping? No, thank you. Besides, the _Upolu_ is not a
regular passenger steamer, and she is just as liable to sail ahead of
time as on time. And from what I hear about those Guvutu sybarites, the
best time to shop will be in the morning. And now you'll have to excuse
me, for I've got to pack."

"I'll go over with you," Sheldon announced.

"Let me run you over in the _Minerva_," said Young.

She shook her head laughingly.

"I'm going in the whale-boat. One would think, from all your solicitude,
that I'd never been away from home before. You, Mr. Sheldon, as my
partner, I cannot permit to desert Berande and your work out of a
mistaken notion of courtesy. If you won't permit me to be skipper, I
won't permit your galivanting over the sea as protector of young women
who don't need protection. And as for you, Captain Young, you know very
well that you just left Guvutu this morning, that you are bound for
Marau, and that you said yourself that in two hours you are getting under
way again."

"But may I not see you safely across?" Tudor asked, a pleading note in
his voice that rasped on Sheldon's nerves.

"No, no, and again no," she cried. "You've all got your work to do, and
so have I. I came to the Solomons to work, not to be escorted about like
a doll. For that matter, here's my escort, and there are seven more like
him."

Adamu Adam stood beside her, towering above her, as he towered above the
three white men. The clinging cotton undershirt he wore could not hide
the bulge of his tremendous muscles.

"Look at his fist," said Tudor. "I'd hate to receive a punch from it."

"I don't blame you." Joan laughed reminiscently. "I saw him hit the
captain of a Swedish bark on the beach at Levuka, in the Fijis. It was
the captain's fault. I saw it all myself, and it was splendid. Adamu
only hit him once, and he broke the man's arm. You remember, Adamu?"

The big Tahitian smiled and nodded, his black eyes, soft and deer-like,
seeming to give the lie to so belligerent a nature.

"We start in an hour in the whale-boat for Guv